Orangeville Bunkhouse burns

MasonJar

It's not rocket surgery
Couple of additional notes:

I used to cross the tracks of this yard several times a day, as I attended the public shcool nearby. I also lived in a house right beside the tracks just north of the yard limit. Of course, in those days I did not pay any real attention to the trains, although my parents did take me to see the steam excursions that were run in the 1970s.

If you would like to see how the yard looked in the 1950's, visit this fabulous layout (which alas is also no more - the owner tore it down when he moved).

http://www.mcswiz.com/MyLayout/Homepage.asp

Orangeville information (scroll to the bottom of the page for photo links)
http://www.mcswiz.com/MyLayout/Orangeville.htm

Andrew
 

MasonJar

It's not rocket surgery
Well, there is a lot of talk about what to do, and there is some pressure mounting for the Town to use the insurance money to rebuild. The thought is that they could build a replica of either the bunkhouse, original station, or current station (which has been moved to downtown as a restaurant). This replacement building would house:

- a waiting area for the Credit Valley Explorer (the tourist train operated by the Orangeville Brampton Rwy)
- a museum featuring Richard Wakefield's awesome CPR Bruce Subdivision (a model of CPR's operations in SW Ontario around Orangeville)
- a cafe or resturant that is open regular hours (to prevent vadalism/mischief - although there are no structures left...)
- possible office space for CANDO, who operate the OBRY, the Barrie Collingwood Railway (BCRY), and Athabasca Northern (ANYRR ;)).​

More information on this can be found (for the next little while) at The Orangeville Citizen:

http://www.citizen.on.ca/news/2006/0330/Columns/029.html
http://www.citizen.on.ca/news/2006/0323/Front_Page/003.html
http://www.citizen.on.ca/news/2006/0216/Columns/022.html

Andrew
 

spitfire

Active Member
Well, I sure like the idea of a museum - I think that would just cap off the tour train perfectly. These short-sighted town planners need to realize that they could be generating money here.

Thanks so much for the update Andrew. Let's hope they do the right thing.

Val
 

MasonJar

It's not rocket surgery
I hope so too...

One of the editorials in the Orangeville Citizen mentions this... A group of execs had booked the train, and arrived in limos, but then had to stand around outside the partly boarded-up building in the yard waiting to get on the train... :rolleyes:

Andrew
 
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